Consider Joy

     I have recently had the honor of sharing a course by Howard Hendricks entitled, "Living By The Book."  Many of have probably already gone through the course or know something about it.  The final part of the course deals with the area of application.  It is concerned with the applying of what you have learned from the observation and interpretation sections into your life.  In other studies, especially in the Book of Ephesians, I have emphasized the number of imperatives that are mentioned in Ephesians, 4, 5 and 6.  Imperatives are those things that we might otherwise term as "commands."  James 1:2 says, " My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;"
       Professor Hendricks mentioned several times that there were over 50 different commands in the Book of James.  When you begin looking at the book, it doesn't take long to begin finding the commands.  The above verse is one of them.  Commands are not easy to do and this is probably why God has given them to us.  The above verse reminds us we have many different temptations going on in our lives each and every day.  What are we supposed to do?  James reminds us that we are to "count it all joy."  In light of the temptation, we are to consider joy as our alternative.  Some temptations, such as discouragement, depression, fear and grief, all weight in heavily in our lives.  It may seem a bit cruel to consider joy during these times, but the temptation suddenly loses strength and gives way to a singing heart instead of a heavy heart.  Now, remember that there are over 50 different commands and the considering joy is but one of them.  Application of the Bible passages into our lives means that the Word of God is in the process of changing us and that we are growing in the Lord each and every day.  If you are going through some heavy trial at the moment, refocus your attention on the joy of the Lord.  You may even want to quote this verse back to God as you meditate on this passage of Scripture.  Remember that you got through yesterday and the day before yesterday, and you will get through today.  Praise God that He answers when we call out to Him.

Procrastination

        Have you ever put things off?  Some people have a tendency to just wait until tomorrow to get something accomplished.  Some people wait until the last minute to do their taxes and others will wait until the end of the month to get their car inspected.  It may be something else around the house or it may be something that you have to do next month.  The tendency in some is just to put it off.  There are a number of problems with that.  Things seem to have a tendency to accumulate.  Whereas you had only one thing to do today, by putting it off until tomorrow, you suddenly find that you now have two or maybe even three things to do.  After a while, the list grows to the point that things are just scratched off without being done at all.  There are enough things in each do to keep you busy and they are things that should be done.  Matthew 6:34 says, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." 

       This verse reminds us that each day has sufficient troubles of its own and therefore worry should not be a part of our lifestyle.  In this section of scripture, the verse just before it, Matthew 6:33, tells us to not be concerned about the worries of the day and that God shall take care of all of your needs.  We find that the word "diligence" is found 7 times in the Book of Proverbs.  In almost all of the references, it is contrasted with the sluggard or the lazy person.  The sluggard just rolls over in the bed and says let me just sleep a little bit longer.  Hence, the sluggard gets nothing done.  It is the person who is diligent, the one who keeps getting things checked off of his "to do" list that gets things done.  You can notice the people in the church who are not sluggards.  They are the ones who are doing the work.  They are the ones getting things done.  If you want to get a job done and be sure that it will be accomplished, you need to ask a busy person.  They will see that it gets done.  The person who is doing nothing but sitting back and relaxing may accept the job, but probably won't get it done.  So, don't put off for tomorrow what you can accomplish today.  Tomorrow has enough worries of its own and you will need all of your strength and time for tomorrow's concerns.  Praise God that He sees us through each day's troubles and joys.  Oh and by the way, don't put off salvation.  When that deadline passes you will find yourself in a very bad situation that you can no longer do anything about.  Praise God that He is always ready to hear your prayers.

Its Time To Pray

 

        How often do you speak to God?  We often talk about prayer and the fact that we all need to be involved in prayer, but it seems that the amount of time that is spent in actual prayer gets smaller and smaller.  There are numerous verses in the Scripture that speak of prayer and praying.  The word "prayer" is used over 100 times in the Bible and the word "praying" is used over 300 times.  The point is that we need to be involved in prayer that we might communicate with the One who has saved us, God Himself.  Psalm 5:3 says,"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." 

      The Psalmist was saying to LORD that He would hear his voice in the morning.  However, as we look through the Scriptures, we can find numerous references to praying being done at other times during the day.  Some people prayed seven times a day as it says in Psalm 119:164.  We also find various times of the day when praying was conducted.  Some may have prayed at night, in the morning, throughout the day, in times of distress or whatever the occasion.  The problem today is that we have run out of time with our busy schedules.  Now that I am older, you would think that we would have more time but that is not the case.  Schedules are just crammed with different things than before.  The result has left us with a minimal amount of time to tack on a quick prayer here and there.  Prayer needs to become a constant attitude where we are spending more time in prayer than in anything else.  We sometimes think that we need to have a specific formula for the putting together of our prayers.  Formulas are not necessary.  We can speak to God at any time.  I would say that the One to whom we are addressing our prayers should be worthy of reverence and respect and that we should not make request to Him with flippant attitudes.  The amazing thing for us is that the creator of the universe has made Himself available to hear and to answer our prayers.  The thing for us to do is to make sure that we do communicate with Him and that we should do it often.  We can look to the Apostle Paul and see a great example of praying.  He prayed often and he prayed for many different people.  Almost every church to which he penned an epistle is reminded about his prayers for them.  So, are you in prayer?  Do you spend time speaking to God?  Echo the words of the Psalmist and say to the LORD, "...My voice shalt thou hear in the morning..."  Praise God today that you can come to Him in prayer any time of the day or night.  He is always there.

Creation and Humanism

     While preparing a Sunday School lesson recently, I spent some time looking up the humanist manifesto that came out around 1935.  A revision of the manifest came out in the early 70's and now there is a third version.  It basically says there is no God at all and mankind is just a product of evolution.  The first manifest has 15 claims, or articles, which refute God and exalt mankind.  It is signed by a long list of college presidents, a large number of Unitarian preachers and a few others.  They all claim to be "free thinkers" and atheists, and agnostics.  They make it clear that they don't believe in God at all.  By its very name, it exalts mankind.  Naturally, they don't believe in the Bible and so they have no way of even coming close to understanding Who God is.    Colossians 1:16-17 says, " For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:   And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."  
      You would think that the humanist people could open their eyes and take a look at the universe from the smallest of things to the largest of things.  Some scientists, and believers in chemical evolution, came together and pondered these very questions.  One of them, an author of a textbook for chemical evolution, finally came to the conclusion that there had to be "First Cause" in order for things to develop as they have.  Whether you are looking at the Flagella motor in the human cell or a field of  flowers, or the Grand Canyon or Mount St. Helen or even your own hand, you should be able to come up to the conclusion that there had to be a First Cause and that First Cause is God, not a pool of primitive goop.  It seems quite clear that it takes much more faith to believe in evolution than it does in the two verses above.  God created the universe and everything in it.  Further examination spells out that it was Christ Himself Who was involved in the process.  It plainly and flatly says, "all things were created by Him and for Him..."  I do feel sorry for the mass of so called educated people who simply believe that they will just disappear into nothingness at the time of death, with no hope while they are living on this earth.  How sad that is.  The discovery of DNA should move people to see God's hand in things and not just chance.  I choose to be the Biblical account of creation and to give God credit for the wonders of the universe.  Praise God for all that He has made.

Unfinished Projects

     The lives of many are littered with abandoned projects.  When I started a project, I always wanted to finish it as soon as possible.  I would even skip stages which later came to haunt me in making the project more difficult.  In some cases, the project would be shelved for awhile and maybe even stopped altogether.    People sometimes have a hard time getting things finished.  It seems easy to begin a project, but soon they come upon a stumbling point and the work stops.  Many of the projects are unimportant while some are very important.  Nevertheless, they all remain unfinished.  This pattern could carry  over into our Christian lives.  We may, for example, begin the year with the desire to read through the Bible only to find that somewhere between May and August, we were so far behind that we figure we will start again next year.  There may also have been that goal to meet with God everyday for a period of refreshment only to find that so many emergencies came up that we couldn't do it.  There is at least one truth that should grasp our attention.  It is never too late to start over.  Isaiah 43:2 says, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."  
     This verse of Scripture reminds us that God will be with us even in the severest of times.  So, it stands to reason, that He will be with us if we decide to continue one or more of those projects that have been put on hold for the past 3 months.  Yes, it is never too late to start over.  We don't have to wait until the first day of the year to begin reading through the Bible.  You could even start your program today.  We don't have to wait until the next mission conference or the next revival in order to revamp our lives and get where God wants us to be.  We don't have to wait for the snow to begin falling to curl up with a good book by the fire.  Ideal conditions will rarely exist in most circumstances.  So, decide to begin now to complete some of those spiritual goals that you have logged down in your journal or on those blank pages of your Bible.  God has reminded us that He will always be with us and that He will be our guide and our source of strength.  It's never too late to start over.  There is that expression that today is the first day of the rest of your life.  Praise God that has He is always there to help us to begin a new project or to finish an old one.

Locked in Tight!

     Are you ready for the thief in the night?  We once had an apartment that had a number of locks on the front door.  The locks would send steel bars into the floor and the and the upper part of the door.  It would seem to be extremely secure and would protect one from anyone just trying to get in without a key.  We were protected against the thieves of the night or any other time of the day.   We sometimes thought that the building could fall down, but the door would still be standing.   Are you protected spiritually?  Second Peter 3:10-11 says, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness," 
      The Apostle Peter says that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.  The funny thing is that we know the thief is coming but we just don't know when it is going to be.  Peter has used this illustration because no one knows when the thief is going to come.  it will be unexpected and when we don't expect it.  The same is true about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It will be when we don't expect it.  The coming will be compared to that of a thief coming in the night.  We often make a lot of preparations to protect us from physical harm but often we neglect to take the necessary spiritual steps.  Having one's house in order is important.  We sometimes put things off thinking that we have all the time in the world to make necessary changes.  The result is that we often end up not being prepared.  Almost everyone carries around a spare tire in the trunk of the car just in case they have one go flat.  If you don't have a spare, you are just tempting fate.  Sooner or later, you are going to need it.  Salvation is the most critical of decisions that one needs to make.  Putting it off can be like running around without a spare tire or having a break in by a thief when you least expect it.  So, look to the Lord in all things, trust in God for your spiritual life and have your house in order.  Remember!  The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night."  Praise God today for His plan for your life.

To Do or Not To Do? That is the Question

    Some questions are easy to answer and others are more difficult.  That was not a profound statement but one that is rather obvious.  Easy questions are those that you can answer quickly and that require little thought.  Others, might take a bit more time.  The rich young man came to the Lord Jesus Christ and asked a question, "What do I need to do in order to have eternal life?"  He figured that there must be one major thing that he could do and then have eternal life in the end.  For him, it was all about works.    First john 5:11-13 says, "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.   These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
       The  response in unbelief of the rich young man's question, might be "Duh!"  This would indicate that to us the answer is indeed simple.  It is so simple that one shouldn't even ask the question.  People, however, do ask the question and for many they go away sad because they refuse the answer that is so obvious.  It is an obvious answer, but it is also a simple answer, and we don't like things that are simple.  We want to complicate them with a long list of things to do.  This was the problem with the rich young man.  He wanted to know what he could "do."  This was my problem for many years.  I wanted to find something that I could do that would make me have a good standing with God, and then in the end, have eternal life.  That's when my fellow clarinet instructor and best man at our wedding, Ron Riley, came by my teaching "cubicle" and quoted First John 5:11-12 and then left.  He said nothing else.  Those verses answered my question,  If you have the Son, then you have eternal life.  If you don't have the Son, you don't have life.  Now, if the Bible's answer doesn't square with the world's answer, which one do you chose as being right?  Again, Duh!  We take the answer that is Biblical over any other view, opinion, guesswork or imagination.  He that has the Son has life.  Praise God today that He still is in the business of granting eternal life.